SPYING ON MARTHA
The whole composite materials and semiconductors thing was getting to him. He was making a superhuman effort to study, not only to assimilate what he read, but also not to fall asleep. He decided to stop for a cool drink and try to clear his head. He headed down the hall, on his way to the kitchen, when a strange noise caught his attention. It sounded like wail, a slight moan. Marta, the daughter of his parents' friends who lived quite far from the city, had settled for a season in his house to do a Master's degree in business management.
Marta was a very pretty girl. His platonic love. They had spent summers together for many years in a coastal town, where they had a small house next to that of Marta's parents. But she had never noticed him. Physically, he wasn't very attractive, so he never had any hope of having an affair with her, except in his imagination.
What could be happening to Marta? Was she not feeling well? A colic perhaps? Was she crying? Did she miss her parents? Her boyfriend maybe? He approached her door without making a sound. It wasn't nostalgic. It wasn't pain.
Tiger.